Brister murdered Aiello

After more than eight hours of deliberations, the nine woman, three man jury in the Darrell Brister murder trial returned a guilty verdict against the 22-year-old Derwent resident Friday night.

Brister was convicted of murder for shooting and killing James Aiello, who friends of the victim say Brister had only met a few weeks prior to the shooting while the two men were in jail.

The jurys verdict revealed they believed Brister purposefully killed the 24-year-old Aiello, a requirement for the murder charge and subsequent conviction. There were no witnesses to the shooting.

This was a very difficult case, and we are pleased with the verdict, said Guernsey County Prosecuting Attorney C. Keith Plummer. I explained to the jury at the start that this was a circumstantial case, but we felt the circumstantial evidence was very strong.

In the end, I believe the jury agreed with that, said Plummer.

The jury also convicted Brister on an attached firearm specification.

A .380-caliber handgun was used to shoot Aiello, who died at the scene on Bloomfield Road.

Brister will be sentenced to a life prison sentence plus a mandatory three-year prison sentence, which will be served first, for the firearm specification on April 5 at 1 p.m.

He will reportedly serve a minimum of 18 years in prison before he is eligible for a parole.

We are also satisfied with the verdict, said Detective Sgt. John Davis, of the Guernsey County Sheriffs Office. I believe the jury did a good job listening to the testimony and using the evidence in returning the guilty verdict.